I can definitely relate to the blog post below. I'm always amazed as well (like many of the other instructors who commented on this blog post) at how many students ask if I have graded their papers yet (either the very next day or 2 days after they were due), know the sheer magnitude of papers that were submitted. I saw that one student commented on this post, saying that professors shouldn't assign papers if they don't like grading them; that they should stop whining because they as students have much more work to do. I could tell this person from experience, that professors (especially newer instructors) spend more time prepping for each class than a student does (on average). Not to mention, providing useful feedback on papers for even a class of 15-20 students can take much more time than it would take one of them to actually write the paper. All of this doesn't include responding to e-mails, meetings during office hours, etc. I don't expect students to get it, by any means. Before I taught my first class, I had similar sentiments. However, I assign papers because it is part of the whole learning process, and I want students to apply the concepts we discuss in class to the "outside world." Well, I could rant and rave about this topic, but I need to get on to grading!
The Five Stages of Grading
